Every year, more than 60 people are trampled to death by elephants in the forests of West Bengal. According to forest officials atJalpaiguri, 616 people were killed by rampaging elephants, bisons and leopards in the state during 1986-96. Most of these casualties (502) have occurred in north Bengal. Dwindling forest reserves, mushrooming ofshanties in and around the forests andhuman activities affecting the conventionalelephant-routes have forced hungry and displaced elephants to stray into human settlements, leading to clashes with humans.
The problem has been aggravated by therising number of elephants in the state;there were 286 elephants up to December1996 as against 186 in 1992. The loss of livesand rural property have forced the stateforest department to pay a hefty sum ofRs 27,927,000 so far, as compensation to theaffected people. There have also beenreports of encroachers killing elephants.
In September 1996, four elephants diedan unnatural death when encroacherschased them away from their original habitation in the Mahananda forest reserve.When attacked with firearms, the distraughtelephants could not escape through theirtraditional route, Laftong, which wasconverted into paddy fields. Finally, theyheaded towards Gazoldoba, where theyaccidentally skidded into the swirling watersof Teesta barrage and died.
The Teesta barrage project has alsohindered the movement of wild animalsin Jaidapara. The proposed Sankosh projectbetween India and Bhutan would furtherworsen the situation destroying the habitatand traditional routes of wild animals, sayenvironmentalists.